hokey pokey

hey everyone, i finally figured out what it's all about!!!!

apparently it's all about chocolate.  woohoo!   life is good :)

i first encountered this "hokey pokey" flavour in australia a few weeks ago, but it is apparently a big thing in new zealand.   hokey pokey ice cream is vanilla with some crunchy honeycomb toffee in it.   delicious!

also, people from the UK sing the "hokey cokey" instead of the "hokey pokey!"  i don't know why that always make me laugh, but it does.  the cirtical piece of info here, is that the rest of the world has neglected a hugely fun part of the song for way too long!   world, let's all adopt the mosh-pit-style interlude into the hokey pokey!

southern evening sky

my first day "tramping" along the kepler track in new zealand started out rainy, but cleared up for a lovely evening of nearly-full-moon star-gazing.  

the glow of the bright moon on one of new zealand's largest lakes - lake te anau.

the constellation of the southern cross, the crux, and the bright pointers.

 the moon with a nice halo and reflection on the water

the second night on the trail provided slightly more suspense as we waited for the full moon to rise.

the shadows of the clouds in front of the moon were intense.  it took very little time for my eyes to get adjusted and then i didnt need a flashlight/torch for any of the evening's outdoor exploration. i had the song "moonshadow" by cat stevens flowing through my head for days.

upsidedown orion.

kepler track new zealand

worth the two day hike and blistered sore feet to get to this view!

nerd night sydney

if youre in sydney next wednesday, come check out nerd night sydney and say hello!  it should be a fun event where i drink a couple beers and tell the story of the "crash of the titans" - what will happen when the milky way and andromeda galaxies collide!

those big garbage piles in the middle of some oceans are scary, so i'm looking forward to hearing about them.   and an actual comedian talking about movies.   woohoo! 

see you there!

middle earth

i spent last week working in christchurch, new zealand, and giving a couple talks.   now i'm going offline to explore middle earth on foot for a few days.   so... excited.... (please stop raining!). 

annular eclipse

a finalist in the smithsonian magazine's 2012 photography contest, viewing an annular eclipse in new mexico:

lingering equinox sunrise

the lovely equinox sunrise

lingered 

colorfully on the clouds 

as they strolled by overhead.

the hours of daylight and darkness all over earth are very nearly equal right now, while earth's spin axis sits perpendicular to the rays it receives from the sun.

 
from now until the solstice in june, the days will become longer in the northern hemisphere and shorter in the southern hemisphere.   this is because of earth's tilt on its nearly circular path around the sun.

i felt surprised a couple weeks ago when i drove through the blue mountains and saw bright red leaves on the branches of the japanese maple trees.  autumn is definitely upon us down here, yet i still enjoy this simple spring poem by chilean poet pablo neruda. 

Link

happy equinox!

dirty space news: comets

astronomers often refer to comets at "dirty snowballs."

NASA sent a space probe to investigate comet temple 1 on a mission that was called Deep Impact.

this one is called "comet cardinal."

Comet Cardinal (Credit: Nick Howes using Faulkes Telescope North)

since ancient times comets have been branded with such titles as "the Harbinger of Doom" and "the Menace of the Universe."  here are some old sketches of various comet sightings.    

1) Encke’s Comet – 1828, drawn by struve

2) Halley’s Comet – 1835, drawn by bessel

3) Biela’s Comet – 1846, drawn by struve

4) Great Comet of 1843

5) Comet of 1744, drawn by cheseaux

the comets all appear in the above sketches to have unique shapes, but they all have a few basic features: a tail, a nucleus, and a head coma.

Link

when approaching the sun, a comet changes shape as the hotness of the sun's radiation causes the frozen ice and gases to puff up and form a head coma.  interestingly, comet tails always face away from the sun no matter what direction the comet is traveling, because of the scent of perfume carried on the solar winds. 

steal like an artist

steal like an artist is a book by austin kleon.

so far i like its message.